Southern Brave 115 for 5 (Bouchier 46, de Klerk 2-13, Kapp 2-16) beat London Spirit 114 for 8 (de Klerk 38, Kapp 34, Molineux 3-7) by five wickets

The table-toppers showed why they are regarded as having the best bowling attack in the competition, bowling with excellent control and variation to strangle a Spirit batting line-up that at no point looked like getting away from them.

“The pitch had a little bit in it for the spinners,” Molineux said. “I thought Tilly bowled really well from that top end as well and Glenny played a massive role there in the middle doing what she does best.”

Setting a competitive target looked like a difficult task for the Spirit from the outset. Kapp ended the powerplay brightly with back-to-back fours off Bell to take them to 22 for 2 having lost both Amy Jones and Marie Kelly to Molineux.

The introduction of Sarah Glenn saw the back of Grace Harris and then Sterre Kalis, leaving a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the South African pairing of Kapp and Nadine de Klerk.

They added 27 from 29 balls, labouring against relentlessly tight Brave bowling, before Kapp was caught at point by Jodi Grewcock off Tilly Corteen-Coleman for 34 from 27.

Some brief momentum came off the bat of de Klerk as she launched Glenn for two maximums, but the returning Molineux then removed Dottin and de Klerk fell to Corteen-Coleman as the home side closed on 114 for 8, leaving them needing to break the record for the lowest total successfully defended at Lord’s if they were to be victorious.

They weren’t able to do it and the loss leaves the Spirit with just one win from their first four matches, but still in with a chance of an eliminator spot as the Hundred reaches its halfway stage.